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->''"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."''-->-- '''Music/{{REM}}''', "[[TitleOnlyChorus It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)]]"

"Cosy Catastrophe" is a term coined by Creator/BrianAldiss [[note]]To dismiss the work of fellow British SciFi icon Creator/JohnWyndham, particularly ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids''. The book doesn't fit the trope, but the term has stuck none the less[[/note]]. TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt has arrived and ... our heroes feel fine. Sure, it's a pity for all those billions who just perished at the hands of super-plague/aliens/nuclear war. But for our safe, middle-class, (usually) white heroes, it means a chance to quit their day job, steal expensive cars without feeling guilty, sleep in a five-star hotel for free, and relax while the world falls apart around them. Maybe things weren't as good as they were in TheBeforetimes, but all in all, life is still enjoyable. Especially if you brought your [[PostApocalypticDog dog]].

Maybe later they'll band together to recreate a humble yet sustainable pretechnological society. Maybe, if they're of mixed genders, they'll see it as their duty to [[AdamAndEvePlot repopulate the species]] (wink wink). Maybe they'll just learn to accept the [[HumanitysWake extinction of the human race]] with [[StiffUpperLip quiet dignity]]. Either way, the end of the world shouldn't be the ... end of the world, so to speak.

Expect {{Arcadia}} since there's not as much pollution and construction.

Many have noted that the popularity of the ZombieApocalypse in media is probably in part due to this trope; it's a lot easier to contemplate a future in which you may be prey to flesh-hungry ghouls, but at least you don't have to face all of the pressures and responsibilities of modern life.

A high form of {{Escapism}}, as who wouldn't want to drop all the pressures of life and do whatever you want? Compare with ScavengerWorld, AfterTheEnd. Usually goes hand in hand with ApocalypticLogistics. See also DisasterDemocracy and AngstWhatAngst.----!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]* In a beer commercial, an average looking guy is stranded on a desert island with a supermodel, complete with several cases of ice-cold (don't ask how) beer. The two of them think they hear a rescue plane so the guy assures the girl he'll try and signal one if he sees it. By using shells, rocks, palm fronds and his own body (for the Y), he does get a message out to some would-be rescuers: "GO AWAY".[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime]]* Played with in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'': ''[[TheMovie Paint it White]]'' where the embodiments of Switzerland and Liechtenstein share a sweet picnic together [[spoiler:''while the rest of the world reels from an AlienInvasion'']].** Also done at the beginning of the movie, when good chunks of the world are being turned into aliens. The meeting held to figure out what course of action to take ends with them arguing over which of them makes the best kind of movies.* Beginning in episode 4 (out of 7) of ''Anime/{{Freedom|Project}}'', [[BadassBiker Takeru]] and [[GadgeteerGenius Biz]] escape from the {{dystopia}}n government on the Moon and crash-land their spacecraft in the ruins of Las Vegas. Even though the survivors on Earth AfterTheEnd live in poverty, have lost most forms of technology and can grow crops only with great difficulty, for [[ProductPlacement some reason]] seafood-flavored Cup Noodles are readily available, and everyone the protagonists meet is cheerful, friendly and optimistic. They safely drive 2400 miles to Cape Canaveral without getting waylaid by bandits or anything. This is perhaps the most sympathetic portrayal of Americans ever to be seen in an anime: possibly a subversion of {{Eagleland}}, the message seeming to be that Americans would be great folks to be around if they didn't have any money or government.** "Freedom" was commissioned by Nissin Cup Noodles as a promotional film, so of course they've got to work ramen in there somewhere...* ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'' has Chito and Yuuri surviving the collapse of civilization, and they're surprisingly optimistic about traveling their dying world. Each day is the same, with them searching for food, supplies, and shelter, but all in all, they seem content with life.* ''LightNovel/HumanityHasDeclined'': Humans as we know them aren't going to last much longer, most technology is gone, starvation is a real threat... but society has survived, and the standard of living isn't all that low.* In ''Anime/PonyoOnACliffByTheSea'', sea levels rise by some 20 meters around the island where the story takes place, which would likely wipe out everything on it. Still, most anyone in the movie is shown to have fun and the focus stays on the relationship between Sosuke and Ponyo. It's strongly implied that there are no casualties at all (no human ones, anyway).* ''Manga/SchoolLive'' is basically a SchoolGirlSeries set in a ZombieApocalypse. While members of the cast periodically show the psychological toll the event had on them, one of them is subject to delusions in which everything is as it was before the apocalypse and she's living at the school as a club activity. Her clubmates and fellow survivors basically play along with it. The school also happens to have solar panels, a water purification system and plenty of supplies (though they sometimes need to leave the shelter to get more food), which is great help in the playing along. [[spoiler:All that equipment gets destroyed later on, by circumstances beyond the girl's control]]* Despite having barely survived an apocalyptic war at some point, the world in ''Anime/SoundOfTheSky'' is surprisingly doing well for itself. Sure there's the possibility that [[spoiler: the Earth's dying]] but life had moved on.* Episode 4 of ''Anime/SpaceDandy'' results in the ''entire universe'' and every last life form (including [[spoiler: robots and [[LemonyNarrator narrators]] ]]) becoming [[ZombieApocalypse zombified]]. Unlife continues on as normal for everyone and there is no more wars, sickness, or discrimination, though [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 films from George Romero]] become obscenely popular.* ''LightNovel/SundayWithoutGod'': With no new life being born, the world is slowly coming to an end, but society has generally adapted to this lack of true death and new life, and Ai still intends to try to save the world, so she travels the world with her companions and helps those she meets.* ''Manga/YokohamaKaidashiKikou'' (Yokohama Shopping Trip) is one of the most laid-back depictions of the twilight of humanity ever; as seen through the eyes of an android coffee shop owner.* ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero'' takes place on something of a post-apocalyptic Earth where the section of Japan the girls live on is the only surviving area. Aside from the [[WorldTree Shinju-sama]] worship everything is pretty normal.* ''Manga/GirlsLastTour'' takes place in a world where an UnspecifiedApocalypse happened a century earlier. Civilization has long collapsed, humanity's numbers are too low to repopulate, and most life has vanished, leaving the world deathly silent. Not that it's a big concern for Chito and Yuuri, who spend their days exploring, collecting supplies, keeping each other company, and shooting the occasional philosophical question. They don't seem to have any major motivation do keep WalkingTheEarth beyond simply living day to day.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]* Deconstructed in the Creator/RaymondBriggs comic ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'', and its animated adaptation. A kindly but naive elderly couple hunker down as a devastating nuclear war begins. Due to the government's poor education of the public about the matter, coupled with their total failure to understand how serious the situation is (they lived through the Blitz in WWII and think it's just like that. [[{{Understatement}} It's not]]), they end up dying slowly and painfully from radiation sickness. The worst part is that their lack of understanding of radiation leads to them making things worse, as they don't realize how stupid and self-defeating the poorly written government pamphlets are (they're told to yank doors off hinges to use as a makeshift inner shelter, than a few pages later are told to leave the doors in place and barricades).* ''Comicbook/ElEternauta'' starts out kinda like that... But then [[CosmicHorrorStory it gets much, much worse]].[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]* Deconstructed in ''Fanfic/GhostsOfEvangelion''. When Shinji and Asuka were the only humans left alive, they scavenged freely the ruins to find food. But when Shinji took a cello from a music store, Asuka pointed out he was stealing, and maybe the owner would return to the real world and find he was missing a cello.* ZigZaggingTrope in ''FanFic/TheSecondTry''. After TI, Shinji and Asuka take up residence in a subsistence farm that came out of the event mostly intact. The place was a nice find; fully self supportive with solar panels and batteries, a generator, rainwater collection system, usable garden, room for livestock, cozy living conditions, a fully stocked repair shed, and a working truck with the added bonus of being close to several city ruins ripe for scavenging. However, they had to work '''''REALLY''''' '''''HARD''''' to make it work.* On a planet-sized level in Fanfic/ShepardsRR. The Serenity system, home of the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Ponies]], was spared from the horror that was the [[Franchise/MassEffect Reaper War]]. Now that the galaxy is decimated from the conflict, the bountiful resources of the Serenity system plus the amazing magical abilities of the ponies are something the Council absolutely must acquire to prevent galactic collapse, so they send Commander Shepard to secure their aid.* Zig-zagged in ''Fanfic/AmbienceAFleetSymphony''. On one end there are places like Inner Chicago that were not hit by the nukes and are barely changed from pre-war. On the other end are bombed out, irradiated and abandoned places like Houston or Atlantic City. Then there're places that are anywhere in between.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', the apocalypse actually improves the main character's life and learning to enjoy life is as much a survival trait as being able to fire a shotgun. Then again the apocalypse was so devastating that there may be as few as six people left alive at this point. Nobody left has any long-term goals besides survival and keeping themselves sane.* The world of ''Film/{{Delicatessen}}'' had a relatively cozy catastrophe, as the mail is still delivered, everyone's basically middle class, and while [[ImAHumanitarian people are eaten]] (according to set rules), life goes on pretty a-ok.* Played as satire in ''Film/NightOfTheComet'', where Earth's passage through a comet's tail turns most animal life into red powder. The only survivors in Los Angeles, aside from some ZombieApocalypse cannibals, are a pair of Valley Girl sisters ... who immediately hit the mall and play dress-up.** And the electricity just keeps on chugging through and beyond the end of the movie.** Even before the comet's effects are felt by the characters, a news reporter doesn't seem at all alarmed by reports that all communication has gone dead in the first region of the world to see the comet, and everyone else is too busy holding "comet parties" to notice.* ''The Last Man On Earth'' and ''Film/TheOmegaMan'', both film adaptations of the original ''Literature/IAmLegend'' novel, have Neville living a relatively civilised post-apocalyptic life. Same with the [[Film/IAmLegend 2007 adaptation of the same name]]: Neville is a CrazyPrepared scientist with a fair amount of supplies which allows him to live in relative peace and luxury in his house, even playing golf and browsing through video stores. He's also [[GoMadFromTheIsolation slowly but steadily going insane from loneliness]], with a good helping of SurvivorGuilt on top, so [[SubvertedTrope maybe it's not quite as cosy as all that.]]* Although not the end of the world, the end of ''Film/FightClub'' fits this description in a sense. In fact, the entire point is to ''create'' this, to break everything down and start over new.-->'''[[WellIntentionedExtremist Tyler Durden]]:''' In the world I see – you're stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'': This is exactly Shaun's plan. The "plan" being rounding up his friends and family, going to the local pub, and waiting there until it all blows over. Suffice to say, it doesn't exactly work.* ''Film/DawnOfTheDead2004'' has this in a brief montage, wherein the survivors simply enjoy the benefits of living in an abandoned, secure mall. At least until the fuse boxes go out [[GenreBlindness in the desolate, abandoned basement.]]** A similar event happens in the [[Film/DawnofTheDead1978 original]], towards the end of the movie.* ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' features a pair of Antarctic workers charged with watching over Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'s prison, one of whom apparently views the alien apocalypse as a chance to enjoy his croissants and comic books in peace. [[AssholeVictim He and his co-worker are the first victims of the newly awakened Godzilla]].* In ''Film/TheQuietEarth'', almost all of humanity disappears, leaving the handful of survivors with everyone else's stuff. * ''Film/JuanInAMillion'': not only do the power plants keep chugging, the ''Internet'' is still up!* Justified as it's essentially a modern fairy tale set in a post-apocalypse scenario, in ''Film/HowILiveNow'' a nuclear weapon explodes in London killing tens if not hundreds of thousands. However for the kids it's an opportunity to explore some first-cousin sex, play outside a lot and have sleepovers in the barn. Even the kids were hit by fallout material from the blast, no one is made ill by it. Additionally it appears that the nuclear attack may have been limited only to England or even just London, with the rest of the world unaffected. However the situation becomes a lot less comfortable once martial law has been instituted, and it's revealed that the terrorists have contaminated the water supply and control parts of England (they are powerful enough to successfully fight an off-guard UK military for now at least).* At the end of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'', [[spoiler:the alien BigBad decides to leave Earth and destroys all human technology out of spite, sending the world into a psuedo-medieval state]]. Nonetheless, the protagonists seem to deal with it just fine along with either fixing some old relationships or establishing new ones. In the case of Gary, his hedonistic and selfish ways lend itself well into this new world.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* Creator/JohnWyndham:** ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids'' is one of the archetypical examples, with the eponymous killer plants running (well, lurching) amok after most of the human population is blinded.*** However, despite being the original target of the trope, it doesn't actually fit it at all. The protagonist faces constant danger and hardship, and the closest he comes to comfort before the end of the book is a rudimentary life of subsistence farming with the constant threat of death if anyone makes a single mistake.** Another Wyndham book with this theme is ''Literature/TheKrakenWakes'', in which the Earth's seas are colonized by unseen aliens; the aliens eventually [[spoiler: melt the polar icecaps, causing world-wide flooding]].** In an interview about his sequel ''The Night of the Triffids'', Simon Clark said he deliberately [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated the trope]]; civilisation has collapsed, but there's still [[SpotOfTea afternoon tea]].* Another author mentioned by Aldiss in the essay is R C Sheriff, whose novel ''TheHopkinsManuscript'' deals with an English farmer trying to get by in the tough times that follow a worldwide disaster. The tone of the book is set by the first scene, in which teatime is interrupted by the collision of the Moon with the Earth, but resumes.* ''The Changes'' by Creator/PeterDickinson (and BBC Children's Television spin-off). Funny noise/feeling causes everyone in England to reject all technology beyond the horse and cart.* ''Literature/TheMartianChronicles'' features a man who, after a Martian colony was abandoned, is one of the last humans on Mars. He enjoys it for a while.* Creator/FredricBrown's short story "The Waveries" is about alien microbes that "eat" electricity, causing virtually all technology to stop working. People are surprisingly ok with this.* The short story "The Highway" by Creator/RayBradbury takes place in a Mexican village after a nuclear war has destroyed the outside world. Despite the holocaust and the ensuing flood of refugees, the residents of the village continue to live their lives as if nothing happened.* ''On The Beach'', a 1957 novel (written by Nevil Shute), TheFilmOfTheBook (made in 1959, directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Creator/GregoryPeck, Ava Gardner, and Creator/FredAstaire), and a made-for-television movie based on the book (made in 2000) each handle the story slightly differently, although the plot remains that of a Cozy Catastrophe. Nuclear war has devastated the whole world, except for Australia. The winds will bring the radioactivity soon enough, but until then, life goes on largely as normal.** "On the Beach" is a special case. Depending on the reader, it may either be this trope played dead straight, or it may be a psychologically-horrifying subversion: it takes place in a world decimated from nuclear warfare. The northern hemisphere barely exists anymore, but in Southern Australia the book's protagonists are drinking tea and waiting calmly for the fallout to reach them, knowing that when it does, virtually all life on earth will be destroyed.** The 1959 movie focuses on the captain of an American sub that was at sea in the Pacific during the war. The sub makes its way to Melbourne, and a romance ensues. With the sub commander played by Creator/GregoryPeck, a nuclear scientist played by Fred Astaire, and Peck's Australian love interest played by Ava Gardner, how can their behavior be anything ''but'' civilized, gracious and dignified?** The 2000 made for TV movie has a lot more conflict and angst than either the earlier movie or the book, but much of that is due to the trend toward DarkerAndEdgier that was in full swing when it was made. So the end is nearer, the American sub commander (Creator/ArmandAssante) is more abrasive, the Australians in general are less welcoming, and the Australian {{Love Interest|s}} (Rachel Ward) and the scientist (Bryan Brown) are ex-lovers.* Creator/SMStirling[='=]s ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' series, in which the mysterious Change has killed off high-energy-density technology (electricity, gunpowder, steam engines...), is at least a partial example of this trope; while many of the successful survivors are unusual in some way--bush pilot, ex-SAS, member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, etc--the only "gangs" that do really well are the ones specifically recruited by a would-be warlord to serve as muscle. In general, having a sense of community and a willingness to work hard is more valuable than mere combat readiness. Sitting around waiting for the Army to show up and fix things is also explicitly noted as being generally fatal.** All of this is true, but as the series progresses, the protagonists [[LampshadeHanging explicitly note]] they have either [[spoiler: fallen into the luckiest string of fortunate coincidences ever]] or, far more likely, [[spoiler: some powerful behind-the-scenes force is assisting and/or guiding them; by the end of the third book, they're receiving overt psychic visions. The chance that this is all somehow tied directly into the Change is very high]].** Sheer mathematics mean they have to be lucky. If 99% of the population dies, anyone who survives will be lucky; anyone who survives and does well will have to be -very- lucky. Someone has to be on the end of the bell curve.** The survivors also note that their catastrophe isn't particularly cosy except compared to the slow or quick deaths of almost everybody else. One person is grateful to be carrying buckets of milk on a yoke across her shoulders--80 pounds total per trip--because she was carrying them at the ends of her arms--through more than one pregnancy--for years after the catastrophe hit because making a carry yoke was #1,032 on a looooong list of urgent priorities.* ''Literature/TheGirlWhoOwnedACity'', a children's novel, where ThePlague wiped out [[ThereAreNoAdults everyone on Earth over the age of twelve]] [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine (in two weeks' time...)]]. The novel's suburban children get on quite well in this curiously clean, decay-free world. Or at least they do once the novel's heroine steps in and teaches them.* One of the ultimate examples may be George R. Stewart's timeless ''Literature/EarthAbides'', which depicts most of humankind dying off due to a superplague, and the ones left to repopulate the earth are fairly ordinary people who aren't at all badasses or [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. The protagonist, Isherwood Williams, is a WideEyedIdealist who starts off with the intention of rebuilding civilization, but in his old age settles into comfort with the idea that, although technology has been set back to the Stone Age, the spirit of humanity lives on.** The book also plays with this as the protagonist initially roams the US looking for survivors. On one hand, he finds a group fulfilling this trope living a reasonably comfortable life from looted goods in New York, but realises they'll be doomed when the food runs out, or when winter comes. On the other, he meets a family of black semi-literate sharecroppers deep in the rural South, still growing their own vegetables and raising animals just as they did before the plague. Their descendants are probably doing just as well as (or even better than) Ish's tribe.* In 'The City, Not Long After' a plague has wiped out a pretty large percent of the world population, but never mind. The remainder is too poor and diffuse to fight and, with the leftovers of civilisation, they have plenty of support till they develop an agrarian society. The artists in the remains of San Francisco have pretty infinite art supplies.* In ''Literature/LittleBig'', the protagonists are largely untouched at first on their large private estate by the chaos gripping the American continent. As things get gnarlier, the place starts falling apart, the electricity goes out, and there's no way to get material to make routine repairs. * Arto Paasilinna's ''Maailman paras kylä'' (non-translated) is about a quiet village where people till the fields, look after their own, and don't care overmuch about the goings-on in the wide world as don't concern them. Meanwhile the world's economy collapses, World War III starts, and a giant asteroid obliterates or floods two continents. The villagers send out a couple of folks to sell a crashed nuke, and have the children sing hymns to pass the time until the sun reappears. The thing doesn't have a plot as much as a saunter.* Creator/StephenKing's ''Night Surf'' (appears in the collection ''Literature/NightShift'') is a kind of early version of ''Literature/TheStand'' that features a group of teens in a small New England town in a world that has been almost depopulated by "A6" superflu. They are traumatized by the deaths of almost everyone they have ever known, but at least they know they are immune. [[spoiler:Then one of them catches A6.]]** ''Literature/TheStand'' itself qualifies too. The characters are pretty upset as the superflu kills their friends and family off, but after the community in Boulder is settled everyone seems to be in pretty good spirits.* Two nerdy college kids do pretty well during governmental collapse in ''Literature/{{Noise}}''.* In the short story "Fields" by Desmond Warzel, the world is overcome by mutant wheat that chokes out all other vegetation; after most of the people of UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} have fled (futilely, it is implied) for greener pastures, the narrator, a homeless man, relaxes by reading and eating canned food--he considers himself better off. When other stragglers arrive, they form teams and while away their days playing baseball.* Evelyn Smith's short story "The Last of the Spode" is set in a gently post-apocalyptic England, where a handful of survivors play tennis, try to discuss the problem of repopulating the planet without getting too coarse, and drink tea from the last of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spode Spode]].* Completely averted in ''Literature/TheRoad''. Quite possibly the farthest you can avert it without killing off the entire population before the book starts. The closest we come to it is when the man and the boy [[HopeSpot find a well-stocked and comfortable shelter]]... that they eventually have to leave because the risk that others may find it is too high.* The world following the Rapture in the Literature/LeftBehind books. Crashed airlines, mass disappearances, and political upheaval everywhere, but the trash is still getting collected, airline flights are uninterrupted, and it's safe to walk the streets at night.** It arguably gets more cozy right on the day of Jesus' second coming, at least for the believers. Conveniently, the world's economic system crashes with the destruction of New Babylon on the same day that Jesus comes. Everyone on Carpathia's side who isn't in Carpathia's Unity Army, and who isn't so determined to go forward with destroying the Christians and Jews in Petra and Jerusalem, is in a world-wide panic.** The latter half of the Tribulation gets somewhat cozy for the believers. Sure, they're still getting hunted down and beheaded by those who take the MarkOfTheBeast. But [[BloodIsSquickerInWater bloody rivers]]? God provides clean water. [[HeatWave Sun-baking heat that scorches everything]]? [[{{Pun}} Exposure to the Son]] will keep believers from burning. [[BigBlackout Pitch-black darkness over New Babylon]]? God will provide some level of visibility. Petra is basically a PlaceOfProtection that nobody on Carpathia's side can even enter.* Society is a bit like this in ''Literature/TheDiamondOfDarkhold''. Of course, the events of that book take place about 200 years after The End of the World, so [[FutureImperfect nobody actually has any idea]] what happened, and the simple farming life is all that the people of Sparks know.* In ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', a handful of countries managed to get by almost unscathed through the ZombieApocalypse: Israel was pretty much the ''only'' nation that took the initial zombie threat seriously while Ireland and Cuba were isolated enough to be zombie-free. On the other hand, the Israelis had to contend with a brief civil war against ultra-Orthodox dissidents over abandoning Jerusalem and letting in goyim, and Cuba faced democratic upheaval [[spoiler:with Fidel Castro ''willingly giving it to his people,'' guaranteeing his own legacy and ensuring he didn't get toppled over by an increasingly overpopulated, diverse, and liberal populace]]. North Korea meanwhile ''attempted'' pulling this off through having its entire population go underground to wait out the zombie apocalypse. [[spoiler: Decades later, no one's in a rush to figure out whatever became of them.]]* The 1959 novel ''Literature/AlasBabylon'' starts off making some serious points about nuclear war and the prevailing military doctrine of the time, but then quickly turns post-nuclear survival into a delightful {{robinsonade}} resembling ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland''.* The protagonists of Creator/DavidWeber novel ''Literature/OutOfTheDark'' are CrazyPrepared militants who--somehow--successfully anticipate an alien invasion. This allows them to easily defend their homesteads, wives, and children for a good while, before they are finally pulled into the conflict by the arrival of [[spoiler:Dracula]]. [[DeusExMachina Yeah]].* The poem ''The Strange Horses'' by Edwin Muir, often included in school literature textbooks, depicts a Cosy Catastrophe in which farmers (presumably on the island of Orkney, where Muir grew up) experience from far off the "war that put the world to sleep": they see a battleship piled with bodies pass by, and then their radios go dead, and they never hear from the outside world again. Then the "strange horses" show up from the wild, willingly taming themselves to help plow their fields now that their tractors don't work. [[ItMakesSenseInContext It sounds better in poetry.]]* The reign of the White Witch in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' appears to have been this for the native Narnians. Sure, the Witch is by all accounts a tyrannical ursurper with a ruthless secret police and a tendency to turn people to stone for annoying her, and her reign is marked by a hundred years of constant winter -- but this doesn't keep locals like Mr. Tumnus or the Beavers from enjoying a modest-but-perfectly-cozy lifestyle, and once Aslan returns there are apparently plenty of healthy Narnians to flock to his cause and form a proper army while the Witch has her own servants and allies in some quantity, so it would seem that food, firewood, clothes (where needed) and in the case of Mrs. Beaver even her precious sewing machine all kept managing to come from ''somewhere'' in all this time. (For that matter, when Aslan's return puts a sudden ''end'' to the century of winter, the abrupt thaw [[NoEndorHolocaust seems to miraculously have no negative side effects whatsoever either]], though that one can potentially be explained away by Aslan being rather literally [[MessianicArchetype Lion Jesus]].)[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]* ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth'' is an AfterTheEnd story about the ''very'' few survivors of [[ThePlague a virus]] that eradicated humanity, and how they group together. Phil Miller nearly falls into suicidal despair at one point, but is living a fairly comfortable existence in a world that's strangely lacking in either dead bodies or destruction. Or so it seems to the characters, most of whom are in denial about how bad things are. As time goes on they're increasingly forced to deal with the reality of their situation, such as the fact that their food (stolen from abandoned stores) will run out. The illusion is shattered completely in the second season when [[spoiler: Phil II dies of appendicitis because nobody has the medical training or supplies to help him]].* ''Curiosity'': One episode of this Science Channel's series, which addressed the question of if scientific advances could make people live forever, had a scenario where a transhuman [[Series/MythBusters Adam Savage]] not only survives an apocalypse triggered by a meteor hitting San Francisco, but thrives despite the fact that at this point, Savage is a cyborg who cannot survive without the advanced technology which the aforementioned apocalypse rendered quite scarce.* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Despite the collapse of modern civilization, things don't look that bad. Indeed, [[Recap/RevolutionS1E14TheNightTheLightsWentOutInGeorgia episode 14]] shows that the Georgia Federation is a pretty nice place to live, with business, wealth, and international trade.* ''Series/{{Survivors}}'': The BBC series has a virus (according to the title sequence, created in China) spreading around the world. The mostly white, mostly middle-class survivors quickly band together and start creating small self-sustainable farming operations, and go travelling about Britain, meeting other survivors and trying to help them and set up communications and even establish some new sort of order. And everyone still drinks a SpotOfTea every now and then, too.* ''Three Moons Over Milford'': This short-lived series takes place after a meteor hits the moon and shatters it into pieces, with pieces of debris falling from the sky in growing numbers. Despite the fact that everyone is all too aware of the fact that eventually one of the larger pieces will inevitably fall and destroy them all, life on Earth goes on as normal with everyone trying to pretend things are fine.* ''Series/TheTribe'': A genetically-engineered virus wipes out [[ThereAreNoAdults all the adults]] and quite a lot of the children in the world over some indeterminate timescale, but apart from some low-level fighting (the survivors are, after all, children), life continues. The children first scavenge what remains, and then return to farming to survive in small tribes dotted throughout the city and countryside. They seem able to recreate society to a roughly mid-20th century level (some machinery, electricity, computers/[=TVs=]) though a bit patchy in places. ** The sequel series, ''Series/TheNewTomorrow'' shows that attempts to rebuild modern society ended up falling short (perhaps caused by the second outbreak of the Virus at the end of the original series), leading to life reverting to a more decidedly iron-age level of technology (farmers, hunter/gatherers, feudal system among the Privs). This is apparently long enough after the events of The Tribe that said events have progressed into myth. Although bizarrely enough, there's still no adults around...* The short-lived Creator/{{FOX}} series ''Main/{{Woops}}!'' saw a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits ragtag bunch of Nuclear Holocaust survivors]] stumble onto an abandoned, but viable farm.* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S05E01WarriorOfTheLostWorld episode]] featuring the film ''Film/WarriorOfTheLostWorld'' devoted a sketch to lampshading the ample greenery and well-maintained roads of the film's post-apocalyptic future.-->'''Crow:''' You know, Joel, I have to say what with the lush, green countryside, the well-maintained roads and buildings, and the ready availability of transportation, food, and fuel, I'm kinda looking ''forward'' to the Apocalypse!\\'''Servo:''' Yeah, provided that Paper Chase Guy doesn't survive!\\'''Joel:''' Guys, that's a terrible thing to say - ''nobody's'' looking forward to the Apocalypse, [[HypocriticalHumor though I do agree with you about the Paper Chase Guy]].\\'''Servo:''' Yeah, but -- Look at it this way, Joel; factor out the unfathomable human loss, and a guy could really get a lot ''done''!** Another occasion has them talk about what they would do if the world ended. Tom would drive cars off of cliffs all day by putting cinderblocks on their pedals. Crow would wear football gear and jump through windows.* The Alexandria arc on ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' shows the collision of one group of survivors living a Cozy Catastrophe with another who has been fighting for their lives for years. The former think the latter act like savages, and the latter think the former are weak and sheltered. Amusingly enough, both groups are right about each other.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]* Fairly obviously: "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by Music/{{REM}} It doesn't make oodles of sense, but one can assume it's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.** One interpretation of the song is about how the rich of society are happy to let the end of the world run its course, whether it be due to their own negligence or unwillingness to change, as long as it doesn't affect them. (This requires actually hearing the ultra fast lyrics, however).** Or that everything people crow about being the "end of civilization!" or "this changes everything!" isn't really that big a deal at all. It's basically an argument against knee-jerk reactions and the fear of change.* Music/TheDecemberists' "Calamity Song", which is a refreshingly peppy and fun song about, well, the apocalypse.--> "Had a dream, of you and me in the war of the end times\\And I believe, California succumbed to the fault line\\We heaved relief, as scores of innocents died."* "Natural Immunity" by Supercommuter is about a man who specifically invoked this trope by hiding his natural immunity to a world ending disease so a vaccine wouldn't be made.* Music/AliceCooper's song "Last Man On Earth" is about a guy who wakes up one morning to find that he's, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the last man on earth.]] And instead of being depressed about it, he proceeds to sing about why it's awesome.* "The End of the World" by Lenka is an [[LyricalDissonance upbeat song]] about a girl who is perfectly fine with dying as long as she dies with her loved one.-->At the end of the world, we'll be together, be together\\If I can spend it with you, then the end of the world don't matter\\At all* The protagonist of "The Story Of Willy" by King Missile has this perspective on the impending apocalypse ("Today is a special day, the last day of planet Earth, and I'm going to enjoy myself"). Even when he finds his friend Bob has committed suicide, he resolves to wait until Bob's wife gets home and take her out dancing. [[spoiler: Of course, because this is King Missile we're talking about here, Willy [[ShootTheShaggyDog then gets run over by a runaway steamroller]].]][[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]* Early ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' products' AlternateHistory timeline depicted downtown New York City being virtually leveled by an earthquake in 2004, and tallied the damages around 200 billion dollars. Even at 1989 prices, that figure seems ''preposterously'' like this trope, as does the premise that even that game-setting's MegaCorp powerhouses could finance its reconstruction in a matter of a couple of decades.* TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Autoduel/Car Wars portrays Australia as having become a quasi superpower because it is the only continent not affected by grain blight, and their cars even ''run on gasoline''. Pretty cushy place, if you can deal with the outrageous quarantine regulations and you're not trying to leap the Cobalt Curtain.* The setting-defining event of ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'' is that the sun went out (more specifically, [[AnthropomorphicPersonification she was shot down by an arrow]]) and the world collapsed into a metaphysical PrimordialChaos. Then a new sun rose in the place of the old and most people picked themselves back up and went on with their lives. Just how big a deal this is depends entirely on the campaign.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]* ''VideoGame/{{Exmortis}} 2'' features a small and peaceful community of farmers isolated from the apocalyptic carnage that the Exmortis demons are unleashing on the rest of the world. [[LateToTheTragedy Of course, by the time the PC actually finds this place, the inhabitants have been slaughtered]], but one of the farmers was considerate enough to leave [[ApocalypticLog a lengthy journal]] recording the disasters in the outside world, the measures put in place to defend themselves from approaching Exmortis, and the foraging expeditions to abandoned settlements. Of course, with supernatural entities roaming the Earth in search of humans to torture and murder, the cosy catastrophe lasts only until the first air-horn sounds.* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', Allistair Tenpenny lives (along with those who can afford it) in a giant fancy hotel in the middle of a CrapsackWorld.** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' explores this further. On the west coast, instead of the land being rendered near-unlivable by the Great War, everything just reverted back to the 1880s save for locations and things like The Strip and the occasional KillerRobot or two. Most people seem to live fairly relaxed lives thanks to the [=NCR=] and the significant lack of raiders after [[VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}} a period of relative anarchy]]. [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}} Then things started improving]], before getting downright civilized. However, a few of the descriptions for the Boneyard (former LA) suggest that parts are still pretty dodgy. The game tries to highlight every ending's positive and negative effects, but the only negative effect the developer could think of for supporting the NCR is ''slightly higher tax rates!''** In contrast to the aforementioned CrapsackWorld of ''Fallout 3'', the American Southwest has running electricity, non-radioactive water, actual non-lethal wildlife and fully-functional communities, things that the Capital Wasteland denizens ''wish'' they had. This is best shown in Novac, where the town has all of the above, plus two snipers for protection, and one sniper's wife ''still'' thinks it's a hellhole. Some of other townfolk ''agree''.** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' might even count as a subversion for some of the escapist aspects. Living in the [=NCR=] or New Vegas means you'll have to face a lot of the same trials you face in real life—paying bills, holding down a job, and so forth. It might not be as fast-paced as today, but it'd be comparable to the early 20th century.** The entire point of the Vaults was to provide this for their residents in the event of a nuclear war, being heavily marketed with this trope in mind. After the Great War indeed came to pass, the reality of long-term survival underground proved to be a ''lot'' different from what people imagined, especially for those unfortunate to become unwitting participants of the Vault Experiments.* Although the world isn't in a great shape, Francis from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' thinks the zombie apocalypse is the best thing that every happened to him. No cops, no law, no worries.** Ellis, from [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 the sequel]], is likewise unperturbed by the ZombieApocalypse, being an [[{{Keet}} excitable]] CloudCuckooLander by nature. * This seemingly applies to most of ''[[TownWithADarkSecret Bright Falls']]'' residents in ''VideoGame/AlanWake''; despite a dark presence engulfing the town at night, numerous residents going AxCrazy and a whole series of mysterious events [[spoiler: being dictated by Dr. Hartman and the very real boogeyman Barbara Jagger]], most of the residents seem to be either [[TooDumbToLive totally ignorant to the happenings]] or too drugged/mentally ill to notice. Even more notable in that people just seem to shrug off odd occurrences [[note]]Ranging from several people disappearing being treated like a normal occurrence, to a ''boat'' landing in a trailer park only to be ''briefly'' brought up in conversation.[[/note]] due to their frequency around Deer Festival.* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' and its sequel are pretty much "Cosy Catastrophe: The Game.'' The zombies are only dangerous in packs (though there are a LOT of them) and aside from rescuing survivors or running from the occasional psychopath, you're free to roam around, eating, drinking, stealing or wearing whatever you can find.* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' has Azura, a island-based five-star hotel/hideout/research facility protected by a maelstrom defense where the elite of the COG goverment spent their days in luxury while the rest of the surviving population dealt with starvation and constant attacks by the Locust and the Lambent.** Eventually, the locust take over Azura, likely kill most of the elitists there, and turn it into a science lab for captured human scientists. By the time COG arrives, only one doomed scientist is still alive. It's unknown if Azura is still structurally intact enough at the end of the game to become a cozy island base for the COG.* The setting of ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'' could be considered one of these. Humanity is nearly extinct, birds are the dominant civilization, multiple political factions are in an uneasy truce, and our (human) heroine nonchalantly jogs past the ruined remains of a human city on her way to school to [[InterspeciesRomance flirt with her bird classmates]].* Both Eddie and Laura quite enjoy the nightmarish hellscape that is ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''. Eddie, a once [[JerkassWoobie heavily bullied victim]] is now having the time of his life taking his anger out on the monsters [[spoiler:and eventually ''James'']], while Laura, [[spoiler:being a completely innocent child, isn't being judged by the town and thus only sees a completely normal monster-free town]].* In ''{{VideoGame/Primordia}}'', humanity was wiped entirely thousands of years ago. The robots living here (descended by the ones humans left behind) continue about their simplistic lives, blissfully unaware that the world isn't ''supposed'' to look like a desert where the sun rarely shines. They show little understanding of the state the world is in, acting almost like children that don't know better. Even the robots living in Metropol, who are watched and controlled by a cruel AI that has gone insane, seem barely aware of their situation, simply puttering about like nothing is happening. The ones who do understand are either exiled, in hiding, ObfuscatingStupidity, or dead.* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' takes place in [[AfterTheEnd what's left of Hyrule 100 years after Calamity Ganon destroyed it]]; despite this, life has gone on as usual for the populace. Many of the villages Link visits are thriving (and even some of the ones directly threatened by the [[HumongousMecha Divine Beasts]] are doing well for themselves), people travel at any time despite the threat of monsters along the roads, and goods are still being produced and sold (with some people even ''expanding'' their business). Justified in that Zelda was able to [[SealedEvilInACan seal Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle]], allowing the places that weren't destroyed in the initial catastrophe to survive and recover, and the monsters that should have been rampaging the countryside are without leadership and keep to themselves, only attacking anyone foolish enough to venture into their territory. By the time the game starts, however, there's a very real threat of Ganon breaking free and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt finishing what he started]].* ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' begins with the Earth getting fractured and split into several pieces by an EldritchAbomination. Despite such an apocalyptic event, all the cities and locales you visit across the world don't seem any worse for wear.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]* In the ''Webcomic/GiftsOfWanderingIce'' the old world died along with most of its population, only few people survived the catastrophe and an ice age that followed it. But they didn't become bloodthirsty savages. Quite the opposite: in many ways they are much better people than their ancestors were. There are no wars in their world, also people of the new era are kind and intelligent.* Zig-zagged in ''Webcomic/ShootAround'', where a girl's basketball team facing a ZombieApocalypse enjoys it far more than they should; sometimes, however, the comic can get a lot darker about it.* At face value, ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'' has a JustBeforeTheEnd sequence focused on people who end up surviving TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, then jumps to 90 years AfterTheEnd, during which humanity has had plenty of time to recover and the settlements we get to see in the end of the prologue and the first three chapters are the better-off ones. However, the less cosy aspect peeks just below the surface, with some characters originating from a place where small settlements sometimes just plain disappeared and the story mostly happening in the ForbiddenZone that fell victim to the apocalypse and still contains remnants of failed attempts at preventing its spread and later failed reconquest of the lands by the descendants of those who used to live there.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]* "The Quiet Apocalypse" mentioned in [[Creator/{{Twoflower}} Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne's]] ''Literature/UnrealEstate'' is one of these. All of those End-Of-The-World-As-We-Know-It scenarios came about (and at more or less the same time), but were far less catastrophic than expected and failed to finish off the human race. The story can be found [[http://pixelscapes.com/unrealestate/ here.]]* ''Literature/NineteenEightyThreeDoomsday'' deconstructs and plays with this trope. South America, Australia-New Zealand and the Alpine countries managed to escape the nuclear holocaust (almost) unscathed. And while they ''do'' fare remarkably well, there were still some rather harsh moments, involving food shortages, refugees and mass unrest.* The Mall could be on the verge of being obliterated, but the heroes of Roleplay/MallFight generally take it in stride. At one point, Mango starts having job interviews while the Mall is being destroyed by Eric and Diablo.* This ''WebVideo/AMVHell'' clip: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aXujOsWJkY Unicron noms a planet.]]* [[Roleplay/SoulsRPG 'Souls RPG]] depicts a post-apocalyptic world run by dogs, and they're having a grand old time.* At the end of ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', the world gets swallowed up by a PlotHole, allowing chaos to enter the world. After the end credits, no one seems to notice.* The topic of the ''WebVideo/AfterHours'' episode "[[http://www.cracked.com/video_18606_4-movie-apocalypses-that-would-be-more-fun-than-reality.html 4 Movie Apocalypses That Would Be More Fun Than Reality]]'', with the characters talking about which apocalyptic scenario from fiction they would find most enjoyable. ** Daniel likes ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E8TimeEnoughAtLast Time Enough at Last]]", as he is an introvert and enjoys the thought of being alone to read. Even the whole "broken glasses" TwistEnding doesn't bug him, as there are books on tape now. He changes his answer to one were there would be at least ''some'' other survivors when he realizes that he will never learn how ''Series/GameOfThrones'' ends if Creator/GeorgeRRMartin dies.** Soren prefers ''Film/IAmLegend'', since there's a level of safety guaranteed, due to the monsters only coming out at night. He also likes the idea of building elaborate monster traps during the day, as it "turns your entire world into ''Film/HomeAlone''".** Katie wants ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' instead, as the monsters in ''Film/IAmLegend'' were sentient beings who could be cured, but a ZombieApocalypse means guilt-free destruction as your victims are already dead.** Michael decides on ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'', because the survivors in other scenarios spend their time trying to recreate the society they left behind and failing, whereas most of the characters of ''Waterworld'' have already accepted and adapted to the world. He also claims that the higher altitude would actually be a health benefit.* In ''WebVideo/TwelveHundredGhosts'' zombies and vampires are mentioned a few times, but are never brought up again, and the story continues as normal.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]* According to WordOfGod, ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' takes place about a thousand years AfterTheEnd, and many kingdoms have sprung up in the aftermath of an (implied) nuclear war. It's a pretty awesome place to be if you're a {{hero}}.** There's a ''huge'' chunk missing from Earth, only one human left and skeletons turn up in random places. There's also a fairytale candy village and you can get nacho cheese and hazelnut-flavored coffee.* WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead ''[[MistakenForApocalypse mistake]]'' an evacuation for the apocalypse in one episode. Naturally, rather than being horrified, they delight in how everything is now free and all the toilets in town are available to them.* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in in the 1986 anti-nuke film ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows''. The protagonists are a charming but frightfully naive old English couple who lived through the horrors of the Blitz, and so faced with the threat of nuclear war, they try to adopt that famous StiffUpperLip mindset. [[DownerEnding It doesn't protect them]], [[ForegoneConclusion needless to say]]. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]* Tornadoes actually are this in RealLife, for anyone not in the damage track - and since even for the very worst tornadoes, the damage track is no more than a couple miles wide at the very most. Even in long-track, violent tornadoes, there are undamaged properties, available resources, and emergency crews often nearby - and if you're outside the damage track's width, you may not even know a massively destructive tornado passed you by aside from some weird weather or an unusual power outage.** A perfect Real Life example of this trope would be a condominium complex in Ocoee, Florida hit by a tornado during an overnight storm in 1998. The complex -- consisting of large single-story condos -- was completely leveled with the exception of a single condo on the edge of the complex's property. Not only did the couple living in this condo not even ''notice'' a tornado was destroying their neighbors while it was going on, the family only found out it had happened when they turned their TV on in the morning and saw a picture of their own condo on the morning news with the scrolling headline "MIRACLE SAVES SINGLE CONDOMINIUM" running under it. They never even lost power. * The ''Protect and Survive'' films and leaflets produced by the British government in the early 1980s seemed to imply that this would be the outcome of a nuclear conflict. Sure, you'd have to stay inside for a couple of weeks, but after that everything would be just fine and dandy. ''Film/{{Threads}}'' and ''ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows'' (see Comic Books, above) were produced in response.* A lot of American Civil Defense material implied this as well. Like its British counterparts mentioned above, ''Film/TheDayAfter'' was produced to show how bad even a "limited" nuclear war would be.* In October 2016, [[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-37711677 a photo of a Hong Kong man sitting in a Starbucks flooded due to heavy rain]] engrossed in a newspaper [[MemeticMutation went viral]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]* [[http://www.dezeen.com/2008/06/22/flooded-london-by-squintopera-2/ The Flooded London series of images]] by Squint/Opera depict a very Cosy Catastrophe.[[/folder]]----